Sub 2:00 Half Marathon thread (Read 2388 times)

Wolfy- Glad you're feeling better. At least the sickness hit after the marathon and not before, right?

Two-foot- That's the Pfitz book that I do have. I am following, more or less, the HM plan B from that book. But with some added miles. Glad your training is going well so far!

Rick- Congrats on completing your first! I am so happy for you!

Pandora- Good luck on your 16 miler! I've only made it to 15 so far myself. Sometimes for a new distance, I will do an out and back for a shorter distance that I know I can do comfortably, then add a few miles at the end. So for 15, I had to pick up my DD at her high school, so I parked there, ran a 12-mile out and back, then finished with 3 on the track. Somehow, that works for me because I'm still feeling fresh while I'm out on the roads, and on the track I can always manage "one more lap."

Monomoy- Welcome, and good luck on the 10 miler!

me- Got the Daniels book, but I can see that it will take some study, so for now I am sticking with what I know (Pfitz). I am in week 3 of the program and am doing well, but I did have a crummy LR last week and my speedwork has been consistently 10 sec/mile slow. Not sure how much is mental and how much maybe that's just the pace that I need to be running right now.

Just checking in. Having a hard time getting motivated on my running and finally got a few races set and worked up a tentative training plan.

I'm actually going to be shooting for a sub 2 hour half marathon again in two weeks, and by sub 2 hours I mean that's my goal, not 1:40 or 1:45 or 1:50 or even 1:55. It's a trail race in San Antonio that actually starts in a cave. I had an unexpected trip come up for work there and checked to see if there were any races and this one caught my eye. It's a lot of technical single track trail with some ups and downs and a little bit of gravel roads. It will be my first ever trail race so my goal right now is just to finish really, but I think I should be able to go sub 2 hours hopefully.

I also am setting my sights on a 50K trail race in May. It seems like a reasonable course, mostly smooth dirt trails, and no terrible huge climbs. It could potentially be a bit warm, but hopefully not too bad. It will be my first ultra, only 5 miles farther than a marathon, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

My wife is starting to run again fairly regularly after dealing with mono pretty much all of last year and she is starting to run some of the shorter races with me so that is neat.

Sounds like most of us are in the wintertime funk right now. Before you know it we will all be planning on spring races and fun stuff like that.

Npaden: good luck with the Ultra running. I have that idea in the back of my mind for 2015, we'll see. If I were to execute, it would be a scenic trail course, and I would do a run-walk-run, with no time objective, just to enjoy

Week 4 of training:

- total of 47 miles. Compared with training for Philly 2012 training when all weeks were between 30 and 40, with only two over 40 at 42 miles

- this week composed of LR of 16.5, 2 x general aerobic of 10m incl one plus strides, and 2 x 5m recovery.

- but highlight of week has been starting to run with my two daughters and training them for a spring 5K. Also put the idea out there of all three of us running a half in a year or two....reaction was not total rejection, so I'll take that as a good start!

npaden- That sounds like a really fun race! Hope that you enjoy it! Good luck to your wife in getting started again. That must have been so frustrating for her last year to be feeling badly for so long.

Twofoot- Glad your daughters are enjoying running! Sounds like training is going well for you! I am kind of comparing this year to last year myself, since I am following the same program (more or less) and training for the same race.

Me- Had a really nice MLR today on what should have been really tired legs. Just felt a little lighter on my feet today, and better as I went.

Lurch - congrats on the marathon! I enjoyed your RR And the pics. I sure hope the leg gets better and that you don't get too far away from running. I never considered the marathon a "one and done" kind of thing either, as I think a person learns something new each time, and makes the next marathon a bit better, somehow.

Pandora - I hope the 16 miler went well. I'm sure a week between the long run and the 5k is plenty of time and you shouldn't be sore.

Monomoy - welcome!

Zelanie - don't fret too much about the slower speed, just run how you feel. I've had those moments too.

PadEn - I look forward to hearing about the 50k. I'm running one on Labor Day weekend. Mine is a 5ish mile loop for a 12 hour event, so my goal is 6 loops (or more...). I'm happy that your wife is feeling better. Good luck on the trail half! If it's really technical theN don't focus too much on time... My road half PR is about 30 minutes faster than trail. Some trail halfs have been almost an hour slower! Depends on the hills, the temps, the weather, and the terrain.

Twofoot - cool to get your daughters running! I've convinced my niece to train for a half (finally!) and I will "run" it with her, and I say that bc sure it will take her over 2 1/2 hours to complete... I'm really looking forward to it.

Me - I've really just been running with no goals in mind. Next week is my first race, a 7 mile trail race with huge hills and rocky terrain. It's a fuN time, running in the woods with other crazy folks. I think I've picked out all of my races for the year, except for December. I'm running the PA Grand Canyon marathon in July (3 races that month) in preparation for the 50k. I'm also running 3 races in May and hopefully only one race for all the other months....

Oh, and I almost forgot! Ran a $5 no frills 5k yesterday, thinking I'd run much slower than my potential bc I ran 13 miles the day before... But I ran a PR and first in my age group! Walked away with a bottle of laundry detergent that I didn't have when I arrived. I said it was no frills.

Hi everyone!!! I am glad people are checking in even though it's kind of a slow period.

Zelanie, I think peaks and valleys are part of the process. An uninspired or slow-feeling run or period of running usually means some better running is around the corner. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

Npaden, Wow on the ultramarathoning. Cannot even fathom.

EdithRevisited, Congratultions on the award!!!!!!

Me-- Did that 16-miler today. Ran my next half-marathon course and then some. It was REALLY flat. I found that my legs were REALLY tired at the end but I wasn't dying like I was in the 16 miler I did last fall. I hope this doesn't wreck me for the 5K I have on Saturday but I really care more about sticking to my half-marathon program.

I will say I am finding winter to be a bit uninspiring. At least, a couple weeks ago when it was SUPER cold, it felt like a battle; the determination to get out and run despite the conditions was dramatic. But recently, now that we are in the balmy 30s or low 40s, it just feels blah what with the overcast skies and most people indoors. If I hadn't signed up for races, I would probably end up not running and get out of shape as I have in past years, so I think winter racing is key for me. Also, I keep telling myself that slogging through the gloom means I will enjoy myself that much more when I am fit and in shape for the sunshine.

RACING QUESTION: So the 5K I'm doing on Saturday seems a bit devilish. It starts off predominantly steep and uphill for the first .5 miles. Then it's a steep downhill for .5 miles. Then flat, then hilly for the last .5. That first steep, uphill .5 worries me. I think I can push it and then recover on the downhill, but I dunno, it scares me and I'm worried about killing myself. Any tips as to how to approach this?

RACING QUESTION: So the 5K I'm doing on Saturday seems a bit devilish. It starts off predominantly steep and uphill for the first .5 miles. Then it's a steep downhill for .5 miles. Then flat, then hilly for the last .5. That first steep, uphill .5 worries me. I think I can push it and then recover on the downhill, but I dunno, it scares me and I'm worried about killing myself. Any tips as to how to approach this?

Whether or not this helps I don't know, but I thought I'd throw my two cents at you. I do an annual 5K that has two steep sections (one right after the other) in the middle of the course. After the first .5 mile or so is when I entered the climb. I slow my pace to conserve on the upward climb knowing I would be hitting hard on the way down (out and back-style course).

In your case its at the start, so that can be a bit tricky. I would maybe use that.5 or so to warm your legs up and hit the downward .5 hard to make-up for the slower start. Also, I did a bunch of hill work and hilly courses when I was training for my 5K (I wanted a PR so badly on it).

That makes sense. I think I will start conservatively and focus on doing a fast middle section of the race on the flat portion (even though that second mile is usually my slowest) and then try to kill the hills on the last .5. My problem with the first section may be more psychological than anything. We shall see!

I can remember who said it or if it makes sense to anyone else, but you take from the hill on the way up and then give it going back down.

It's fairly common to see people huffing at puffing at the top of a hill and even walking at the top of the hill or worse yet, on the way down the hill. It's all about even effort. Don't kill yourself going up the hill and don't just cruise down the hill without working at it. Depending on how steep the hill is I will even walk portions of some hills going up them. On my PR half marathon that I ran in 1:43:26 I walked 3 different times going up the steepest hills. Then I blew by people by putting out effort running down the hills instead of just coasting.

RACING QUESTION: So the 5K I'm doing on Saturday seems a bit devilish. It starts off predominantly steep and uphill for the first .5 miles. Then it's a steep downhill for .5 miles. Then flat, then hilly for the last .5. That first steep, uphill .5 worries me. I think I can push it and then recover on the downhill, but I dunno, it scares me and I'm worried about killing myself. Any tips as to how to approach this?

I would suggest that you run an easy mile or two before the race to warm up your legs, and then keep a nice, steady pace up the hill. Then let the steep downhill pull you down, use the momentum. Good luck!

RACING QUESTION: So the 5K I'm doing on Saturday seems a bit devilish. It starts off predominantly steep and uphill for the first .5 miles. Then it's a steep downhill for .5 miles. Then flat, then hilly for the last .5. That first steep, uphill .5 worries me. I think I can push it and then recover on the downhill, but I dunno, it scares me and I'm worried about killing myself. Any tips as to how to approach this?

I ran a 5K back in September the day after finishing RTB-NH where I ran six legs of the relay totalling 32.8 miles in about 26 hours, and when I got to the starting line of the 5K my quads were so sore and tight the "walkers" passed me between where I lined up for the start and the starting line, this in spite of the fact that I was "running". The entire first mile was all up hill, and my slow start effectively allowed me to loosen up and warm up on what amounted to the slowest part of the course. I ran the first mile in almost exactly 12 minutes; by the second mile mark I was right bang on the 20 minute mark, so clearly my legs were loosening up and I was getting nicely warmed up.

The last 1.1 mile segment was very interesting in that I ran it at the fastest pace I'd been able muster in over a decade, literally; I finished the final segment in a blistering (for me) 6:46, which equates to a 6:09 pace. I'm thinking if you conserve your energy during your initial climb as I was effectively forced to do, you'll be able to tear it up during your last mile.

Remember to update us on how you made out after your race.

Fat old man PRs:

1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50

2-mile: 13:49

5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31

5-Mile: 37:24

10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16

10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40

Half Marathon: 1:42:13

Monomoy

posted: 1/21/2014 at 9:19 PM

hello folks

Thanks again for everyone who posts on this forum. Gives me some motivation up here in MA trying to stay motivated during winter running season. I'm on Cape Cod, and we currently have blizzard conditions, and are expected to get 14 + before it is done. Question for the group: How long a recovery is usually required after a 1/2 marathon? Thinking ahead to spring, and wanted some feedback before signing up for another race.

Thanks again for everyone who posts on this forum. Gives me some motivation up here in MA trying to stay motivated during winter running season. I'm on Cape Cod, and we currently have blizzard conditions, and are expected to get 14 + before it is done. Question for the group: How long a recovery is usually required after a 1/2 marathon? Thinking ahead to spring, and wanted some feedback before signing up for another race.

Recovery time depends upon how hard you've trained and how many miles you have under your feet. If you're putting in 70-80 miles per week, recovery shouldn't take but a week or two; if you're only running 25-30 miles per week, it will most likely take a lot longer.

monomoy, I heard if you put out a lot of effort then take 1 day off for every mile you ran. marathon - take 3 weeks off or do easy runs during that time, half mara maybe less than 2 weeks of easy or little running. But yeah if you are working up to a higher distance or do 50+ miles a week, I think a weekend is plenty of rest. I have taken about 3 weeks off after my last marathon and have only run once during this time. I am letting my brain rest more than my physical. I needed the mental break from the routine. Hope it helps,